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Patrick and Nathalie Schuster owned several businesses around Frankfurt, Germany. They moved to the U.S. earlier this year when they bought Mad Fresh Bistro in south Fort Myers. Special to The News-Press

Moses and Agnes Sacher of Germany bought Eats and Treats in south Fort Myers in July 2017 after Agnes won the U.S. Green Card lottery. In August they opened Eats and Treats Bakery Cafe. Artis Henderson/Special to The News-Press

The Bullig Wafflewich from Bullig Coffee & Bites in Fort Myers, joins the restaurant's scratch-made waffles with bacon, cheese, tomato, avocado, arugula and a perfectly poached egg. Special to The News-Press

Drawn by the area's beaches and warm weather, Germans are buying restaurants throughout Southwest Florida in order to secure E-2 investment visas.

When Mike Lehne left Hanover, Germany to open a burger shop in the United States, his friends thought it was a joke.

“A lot of Germans were laughing at me,” Lehne said.

“A German moved to America to open a burger restaurant? That’s like an American moving to Germany to open a currywurst stand.”

Now, four years later, Lehne Burger in Cape Coral is thriving. And the person laughing is Lehne.

He’s not the only one.

Southwest Florida seems to be seeing a surge in German-owned restaurants. The area has long had German-owned schnitzel and bratwurst houses, but this new wave of German restaurateurs are serving decidedly non-German things: seared scallops, risotto, lattes, biscuits and gravy.

Known as the investment visa, the E-2 is for non-immigrant investors from countries with which the U.S. maintains a "treaty of commerce and navigation" per the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services' website. The E-2 allows them to stay in the United States as long as they are investing a "substantial amount of capitol" in an American business. The list of eligible E-2 countries is extensive and includes places as diverse as Armenia, Bahrain and Singapore. Plus, of course, Germany.

Unlike similar visas, which grant holders immigrant status, the E-2 does not guarantee a long-term stay. According to Immigration Services, E-2 visas bring in nearly four times as many foreign workers as immigrant-investment visas such as the EB-5.

So, why restaurants? Most are less expensive than other businesses, and they often come with menus and a trained staff already in place.

Patrick Schuster and his wife, Nathalie, bought Mad Fresh Bistro in south Fort Myers in October 2017 as part of their E-2 visa application. The two were new to the restaurant industry, though they had owned several businesses in their hometown near Frankfurt, Germany.

Eurowings' inaugural flight from Dusseldorf, Germany arrives at Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) in Fort Myers on Thursday. Eurowings is celebrating its inaugural service to RSW.
Kinfay Moroti/news-press.com

“We were looking for a car wash and then a gas station,” Patrick Schuster said. “We found this place and it was right in our budget so we decided to take it.”

For Schuster, the E-2 visa provided an opportunity he’d been searching for most of his life.

“Right now I’m 52,” he said. "I was 16 when I started thinking about moving to the United States.

"I grew up with Americans. We had an Army base where I used to live when I was a kid, and they told me so much about the States. And they showed me a lot of pictures. It took me some years, but now I’m here.”

The E-2 visa is granted for a period of up to five years, and it can be renewed an indefinite number of times. The holders of the visa don’t have the right to work outside their own business, and each time they reapply they must show earnings, growth and employment. The application process can be lengthy and complicated. Many applicants turn to immigration attorneys or other advisers to help with the legalities.

In addition to his burger business, Lehne recently launched a consulting company to help people from Europe move to the U.S.

“We try to give them all the contacts to help them start over here,” he said, “because it’s pretty hard. We have a good team now — attorneys, contractors, everything business-wise — so we help them out.”

Not every German restaurant owner is here on an E-2 visa.

Moses and Agnes Sacher bought Eats and Treats in south Fort Myers in July 2017. In August they opened an Eats and Treats Bakery Cafe.(Photo: Artis Henderson/Special to The News-Press)

In April 2017, Agnes Sacher and her husband, Moses, moved to Florida after Agnes won a Green Card though the United States's Green Card lottery. They bought the south Fort Myers ice cream and fast food stand Eats and Treats in July 2017, and recently opened a second Eats and Treats with a bakery and cafe.

“My husband has experience with restaurants so we thought it would be an easy start for us,” Agnes Sacher said.

As with many local German business owners, the Sachers discovered Southwest Florida on vacation. They liked the weather and the people so much they decided to start a life here.

According to 2017 data from the Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau, Germany is the No. 2 source of international tourists in the Fort Myers area, with 190,000 Germans visiting last year. Germany is second only to Canada, which sent 253,000 visitors to the area in 2017. The United Kingdom was a distant third with 81,000 visitors.

The Germans who decide to stay aren't escaping oppression or a fraught political climate. They mostly come for something simpler: sunshine.

That's what drew Yvonne and Andreas Schumacher to Cape Coral, where they took over Hart & Soul Cafe in May.

"Since we have been coming here for almost 10 years and we always liked it very much, we wanted to live here as well," Yvonne Schumacher said, noting that the "nice people" and beaches also factored strongly in their decision to move.

Lehne, too, was drawn by the weather. He opened his original Lehne Burger on Fort Myers Beach in 2014. He liked the idea of hanging out at the beach and earning some money in the U.S. after college. But starting his own business was more work than he’d planned.

“The first two years, we never saw the beach,” he said, laughing.

“We were working 18-hour days, every day, to start Lehne Burger. There wasn’t too much space for having fun. But Lehne Burger is the fun part right now."

And, if the trend continues, more visitors could mean more Germans investing in the local economy. And more restaurants where “guten Tag” is the order of the day.

Artis Henderson is a freelance writer and author, her first book earned a New York Times Editors’ Choice; find her at artishenderson.com and on Twitter.

The Bullig Wafflewich from Bullig Coffee & Bites in Fort Myers, joins the restaurant's scratch-made waffles with bacon, cheese, tomato, avocado, arugula and a perfectly poached egg.(Photo: Special to The News-Press)